ALBUM REVIEW: Liminal Light – Kosmodemonic

Brooklyn-based KOSMODEMONIC made waves with their debut, 2016’s The Inebriating Darkness. Balancing black metal with psychedelia and sludge, they’re very much a unique proposition and don’t fit neatly into any one particular camp. Their second album Liminal Light sees them expand on their sonic palette while still retaining their core blackened, doomy sound. 

Drown In Drone kicks off the album with immediacy, lurching into view abruptly. Vocally it’s somewhere between a mid-range blackened rasp and a sludgy growl in the vein of EYEHATEGOD. It’s one that works well for them, sitting atop the riffs that, despite their layers of grime, still have something of an otherworldly tone. The guitar solo around the two minute mark throws another curveball, all rock ‘n’ roll squall before the main churning riff swaggers back into view. It’s a fitting title for a song that feels designed to overwhelm, mired in its sludge before a sudden collapse. 

The punky snarl and energy is kept up throughout, with cuts like Moirai crashing in through cascading drum fills and their off-kilter guitar work, along with Broken Crown’s almost bluesy lurch. These stand in contrast to the more gothic-leaning moments like Lover Of Leaving that opens at a funerary crawl that seems more than a little inspired by PARADISE LOST or MY DYING BRIDE. The similarities end at the guitar work, however, as the vocals evoke Kirk Windstein or Mike IX Williams. 

Heralded as an offshoot of black metal, there’s actually fairly little at the surface level that resembles the genre. Dig a little deeper, however, and the buzzing guitar tone is certainly reminiscent of it; the opening moments of Unnaming Unlearning feel as if they could break out into a mid-paced blackened stomp, but instead settle for an unsettling, crooked rhythm though does accelerate to a shambling approximation of a blast beat around the halfway mark. Moments like this, along with the frosty atmosphere of the album, are the most black metal moments of it. and there’s an argument to be made that it does in fact draw more heavily from the NOLA sludge scene. 

That’s certainly no bad thing – there’s a cold, foreboding atmosphere married with the deeply unsettling feel throughout the album that’s at its strongest on Drown In Drone and Unnaming Unlearning. These elements together make Liminal Light quite a disquieting experience, but a very interesting one. Balancing the crush of doom with the snarl of sludge and the seething cold of black metal makes for intriguing listening, though the one-note snarl and constant lurching can be off-putting at times. 

Liminal Light is a strong second album from the underground darlings, and one that’s sure to cement them as one of the most exciting prospects in the Brooklyn scene, if not beyond. While it struggles occasionally for variety in tones, the deep sense of unease and harrowing heaviness it brings to bear makes KOSMODEMONIC a very interesting prospect indeed. 

Rating: 7/10

Liminal Light is out now via Transylvanian Recordings.

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